What to expect in 2017 after a 2016 record year for renewable energy investments?

While 2016 was a record year for renewable energy investments, we shouldn’t lose focus in 2017 and continue to raise more public awareness and develop more clean energy.

According to the World Economic Forum, the future of renewable energies would really come when the price of solar is competitive with coal, natural gas or other fossil fuels… This day has arrived. According to its latest report, solar and wind energy are now at the same price, or even cheaper, than new fossil energy installations in more than 30 countries. The choice of renewable energy is no longer just an environmentally sustainable choice, but an opportunity for long-term investment with a good return.

Reflecting this trend, Bloomberg Energy New Finance estimates that investments in renewable energy will reach $ 7.8 trillion by 2040 (including $ 3.4 trillion for solar, $3.1 trillion for wind and $0.91 trillion for hydro). This level of investment would be four times the $2.1 trillion that is expected to be invested in fossil fuels over the same period.

Investment in Power Capacity, 2008-2015 Source: BNEF, UNEP

The large-scale development of installed capacity for solar power increases the ambition of the sector. A recent report estimates that installed solar capacity will continue to expand exponentially, reaching 540 GW of total solar power installed in 2020, compared to the 178 GW that were installed by the end of 2014.

Source: REN21

Installations are booming while solar prices keep falling.

The cost of renewables continues to fall. The cost of producing solar energy has gone from $600/MWh ten years ago to less than $100/MWh today. At $100/MWh the price of electricity is comparable to electricity generated from fossil fuel sources. Over the past seven years, solar power has decreased by 85%; an equivalent decrease is expected for the next seven years and this will profoundly change the landscape of energy. This long term trend is visible in other renewable energy sources such as concentrating solar power and wind (both onshore and off).

Source: BNEF

Investments in renewables is booming, but more is needed to prevent the negative effects of climate change. Many obstacles like uncertain regulatory environments, changing political rhetoric, and ever-present soft costs still need to be overcome. At least with soft costs, Arbox HAP® offers some relief. We specialize in developing software that makes renewable energy business more efficient so that they can deploy more clean energy.

If you work in the renewable energy industry and would like to learn more about how to maximize your ROI on a daily basis, reach our team and learn how our software solution can benefit your business. The Arbox HAP® Platform is a software solution dedicated to all the stakeholders in the field of renewable energy which helps them to manage their project life cycle from the beginning to the end, from assessment, financial modeling, project management, procurement, document management to live monitoring their assets.

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